In front of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, Ethics Resource Center’s (“ERC”; “the Center”) Patricia Harned shared her thoughts on potential amendments to the False Claims Act. During testimony , the Center’s president told Congress that certification of private sector ethics and compliance programs are beneficial in protecting taxpayers from fraud by government contractors. She further stressed that the programs should give equal focus to both ethics and compliance, which lessens the need for enforcement caused by False Claims Act violations. Referencing the ERC’s research, Harned also noted that companies with strong ethics and compliance programs take. Read More.

Outlining next year’s policy objectives, Report on Objectives – Office of the Investor Advocate has been released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Office of the Investor Advocate (“the Office”). Published on June 24th, the report details two major projects the Office will work on during fiscal year 2015. The projects include assisting the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance (“Corp Fin”) revise disclosure requirements and reviewing cybersecurity for investor protection. Mandated by the JOBS Act, the SEC’s Mary Jo White considers the review of disclosure requirements in Regulation S-K a high priority. Using recommendations from the Report on. Read More.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Office of Management (“OMB”) issued its 2014 OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement (“the Supplement”). Viewed as essential guidance for performing single audits, the Supplement recognizes important compliance requirements the government expects to be considered for auditing. The Supplement is also seen as a source for auditors to better understand federal program objectives, procedures and other valuable information. Effective for fiscal year audits beginning after June 30, 2013, some of the changes to this year’s Compliance Supplement include: Changes to the Matrix of Compliance Requirements, which was revised to add and remove programs for consistency purposes;. Read More.